1. Field of the Invention
This invention pertains to sanding devices, and in particular to a vacuum driven light weight sander that can be hand held or mounted onto a pole for use in sanding dry wall and is attached to a vacuum hose that provides motive power to drive the sander and for removing sanding dust off of a wall surface that is pulled into a collection canister.
2. Prior Art
The present invention is in improvements to a vacuum driven sander as embodied in U.S. Pat. No. 6,347,985 issued to the present inventor. The vacuum driven sander of the '985 patent constitutes a marked improvement over earlier sanders. With some examples of such earlier sanding devices are shown, in U.S. utility patents to Brenner U.S. Pat. No. 3,722,147; to Mehrer U.S. Pat. No. 4,062,152; to Marton U.S. Pat. No. 4,184,291; to Rodowsky, Jr. et al. U.S. Pat. No. 4,399,683; to Romine U.S. Pat. No. 4,697,389; to Paterson U.S. Pat. No. 5,007,206; to Sanchez, et al. U.S. Pat. No. 5,193,313; to Brown U.S. Pat. No. 5,283,988; to Matchuk U.S. Pat. No. 5,605,600; and to Brown U.S. Pat. No. 5,624,305. Also, the vacuum driven sander of the '985 patent is unique and distinct from certain other electric motor driven devices that connect through a hose to a vacuum or suction device like those shown in U.S. Patents to Davies U.S. Pat. No. 1,800,341; to Jones U.S. Pat. No. 3,468,076; to Hutchins U.S. Pat. No. 3,785,092; to Hutchins U.S. Pat. No. 4,052,420; to Matechuk U.S. Pat. No. 4,782,632; to Flacheneck, et al. U.S. Pat. No. 4,905,420; to Fushiya et al. U.S. Pat. No. 5,018,314; to Takada U.S. Pat. No. 5,185,544; to Chu et al. U.S. Pat. No. 5,228,224; to Smith U.S. Pat. No. 5,384,984; to Hutchins U.S. Pat. No. 5,582,541; to Heidelberger U.S. Pat. No. 5,595,530; to Everts, et al. U.S. Pat. No. 5,637,034; and in Design Patents to Taylor No. Des. 375,885; to Gildersleeve et al. No. Des. 392,861; to Fushiya et al. No. Des. 326,398; to Morey et al. No. Des 351,976; and to Stiles No. Des. 353,313. None of which earlier sanding devices prior to that of the '985 patent of the inventor, however, included a vacuum driven oscillating sanding disk that provided for the efficient and reliable removal of sanded particles from the work surface through an attached vacuum hose.
Somewhat similar to the vacuum driven sander of the '985 patent are U.S. Patents to Brenner U.S. Pat. No. 3,722,147; to Rodowsky, Jr. et al. U.S. Pat. No. 4,399,638; and to Marton U.S. Pat. No. 4,616,449, that show sanding devices where an oscillating plate mounts a sheet of sand paper, is air driven by a vacuum flow and also provides for removal of sanding dust off from a work surface to pass that collected dust through a vacuum hose into a collection container. However, while the patent to Rodowsky, Jr. et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,399,638 provides a turbine blade that is turned by a vacuum flow to operate an oscillating plate whereto a section of sanding material is attached, calls for pulling that sanded dust through the turbine bearing, thereby greatly limiting bearing life. Which inherent flaw was recognized and corrected in the '985 patent of the inventor.
The '985 patent of the inventor provides a vacuum driven sander where the turbine bearings are protected from exposure to the dust laden vacuum flow and, as further unique features, includes a balanced split-air intake that providing a balanced driving force to the turbine blades, drawing essentially equal air flows from both sides of the sander and also improves upon the entrainment of dust and contaminants in the air flows as are passed through the sander. Further, the turbine of the '985 patent is itself an improvement over earlier devices in that it incorporates a split design where the top and bottom turbine sections are not symmetrical, with the lower turbine section having the greater height to allow the bearings and bearing supports to be conveniently fitted inside the turbine mounting section in the sander housing, providing a turbine housing profile that is shorter than former sanders turbines and has a lower center of gravity as compared to earlier sanders.
The '985 patent also provided an improved pole coupling assembly that allows the angle of a pole whereon the vacuum driven sander is mounted to be changed to accommodate a selected sander top surface to a wall allowing the body to be moved up and down over a wall, but does not provide a universal type joint arrangement that allows the sander body to be easily tilted both up and down and side to side relative to its mounting pole. While a ball coupling of a pole end to head is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,144,774 to Conboy, the coupling is not a universal type coupling like that of the invention. Nor does the '985 patent provide for dissipation of a static electrical charge as the contact of an oscillating sander surface creates, and further fails to provide for tightly locking the sander turbine onto a top end of a bearing assembly that supports the turbine and its connected eccentric. Which deficiencies in the '985 patent are addressed and solved by the improvements of the present invention.